Gearing fob washhstg-machnites



. NELSON GEARING Foa WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22. I9I7.

Patented June 17', 1919.

3 SHEEIS-SHEET I.

i,sfmlm.

L NELSON. GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.V22, 1917- Patented J une 17, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 4J. NELSON.

GEARING FUR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22| |91?.

Patented June 17, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

l Q ci 2&9 l

III

II; lllllllllllllllllllllllll Il! Specification of Letters Patent.I Ptngd um@ 17, 191g Application led October 22, 1917. Serial No. 197,971.

To all lwhom t may concern: L

Be it known that I, JOHN NELSON, a citizen of the United States, residi at Newton, in the county of Jasper and tate of Iowa, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Gearings for Washing- Machines, of which the following is a specilication.

The' invention relates to an improvement in gearing for combined washing and wring- 4 lng machines of that -type designed to be tween the tubs, and it is the primary aim of -the invention to provide means for -rotating the agitator-s and operating the wringer e mechanism embodying a motor and a system of gearing for transmitting power from the 'motor to the said agitators and wringer mechanism embodying control levers so arranged and located that the operator of thel machine may manipulate the levers selec-v tively without changing his or her position with, relation to the machine whereby to put into operation either or both of the agitators or to discontinue the operation of either or both of the agitators and set'in operation the wringer mechanism. In certain types of f suchrmachines there has been provided an arrangement of gearing in which the 'contro levers have been posltioned at various points about the machine rendering itl necessary for the operator to walk around the machine in order to roperly control the operation thereof and 1t will be understood from the foregoing that the primary object of the present invention 1sl to overcome the disadvantages resulting from such an inconvenient arrangement of the said levers.

The invention also aims to provide an arrangement of gearing whlch w1ll be exl tremely simple and not in any way liable to get out of order and bywhich a more direct 'drive and economy in expendlture of power is provided for.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the gearmg embodying the present invention, the washing and wringmg mechanism to be operated through the gearing being illustrated in dotted lines so as to illustrate the application of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective embodying the. present invention;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the gearing;

Fig 11 is a verticall longitudinal sectional vle'w taken substantially on the line 4- 4 of ig. 3; Y

' Fig. 5 is a detail view in elevation illustrating one of the bearings for the rods which are adjustable to control the shiftable elements of the gearing.

*In the drawings, the supporting frame structure of the combined washing and wringing machine in indicated in general by the numeral 1 and the numerals 2 and 3 indicate tubs which are mounted upon this frame. The agitator shafts arranged within the tubs 2 and .3 and mounted in bearings 1n the tops of the said tubs are indicated respectively by the numerals 4; and 5. The wringer mechanism is indicated in general by the numeral 6 and .the shaft which transmits motion to the said mechanism is indicated by the numeral I and is mounted .Viewof the gearing in a tubular standard 8 supported within the frame 1 and extending upwardly between and at one side of the tubs 2 and 3. Inasmuch as the present invention is not concerned with any specific form of agitator or dolly nor with any specific wringer mechanism, these parts of the washing and wringing machine will not be specilically described. In fact, the shafts l and 5 may serve to rotate lor oscillate any desired form of agitator and the shaft 7 may transmit motion to any desired form of wringer mecha-- nism, the 1nvention residing, on the other hand, in gearing through the medium of which power may be transmitted independently to these parts in unison or selectively.

Supported within the frame 1 are spaced platforms 9 and 10 and mounted upon the platform 9 is an electric or other suitable motor 11, the shaft of which is indicated by the numeral 12 and has fixed upon it a pin ion 13, said pinion 13 meshing with a gear 14 of relatively large diameter which is iixed f upon one end of a shaft 15. This shaft 15 at 11 is in operation power will be transmitted the said shaft 15. -A pinion slidably keyed upon i mutually' engage each other when the member 21 is shifted towardthe pinion 18. In

order that the clutch member 21 may be shifted, as stated, an arm 24 is provided at its lower end with a yoke 25 engaging a peripheral groove 26 in the 'said member and `this arm 1s supported from arod 27 which is slidably mountedthrough an opening28 formed in the depending wing of a bracket member V29 which may either constitute an integral portion of the frame 1, which frame is formed from angle iron bars, or may be in the nature of a separate length of angle iron secured to one of the side .members of the frame.v The horizontal wing of this bracket is indicated by the numeral 30 and fitted through the said wing near the ends thereofv are bolts 31 which extend also through open- .l ings in a plate 32 supported by the bolts in spaced relation to the under side of the said wing 30. -Springs 33 are fitted uponthe bolts and bear at their upper ends against the under side of the lplate 32 and may be tensioned by adjusting nuts 34 which are threaded on to the lower ends of The upper side ofthe plate 32 bears fric- .tionall andv other similar rods which will be presently described and serves to hold the rod and the lother rjods mentioned' against dis# lacement after having vbeen shifted to the esired position of adjustment. rlhe outer end of this rod 27 is provided with an upstanding hand grip 35 which may be gras ed for Athe'plslerygiose of shifting the rod an it will be o rved by reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings that this hand grip is located at one side of the machine as well as the hand grips for the other rods mentioned. The inner end. .through an openin in a bracket or bearing member 36 mounte at any convenient point within the frame 1 to support the inner end of the rod and prevent sagging of therod. A pinion 37 is loosely mounted upon the shaft 15 and has a clutch portion 38 for cooperation with a, clutch member 39 corresponding in construction to the clutch meinber 21. The clutch member 29 is shifted through the medium of an arm 40 which corresponds to the arm 24 and which depends from a rodv 41 mounted in another with the pinion 18. the bolts. y

against the under side of the rod 27 of the rod 27 is slidably tted event,

preferably extends inthe same direction4 as the hand grip 35 and these-hand grips are spaced a short distance apart and are, of course,

grasped without the' operator changing his or her position. lhe pinion 37 meshes with a gear 43 mounted upon a. stub shaft 44, the shaft being supported ina suitable bearing upon the platform 10'. Connected by means of crank pins to' the gears 19 and 43 are pitmen 45 and 46, respectively, and these pitmenare piv tally connected at their outer ends to the'lo'wer ends of rook levers -47 to the'upper ends of which levers are connected the outer ends of rack bars 48. lThe inner ends of these bars are of rack formation, as indicated at 49, and mesh with pinionsl (not shown) at the upper, ends .of the shafts 4 and 5. Atthis point it will be understood that the shaft 15 being. driven from the .moto'r, either or both of the agitator shafts 4 and 5 may be set in operation by adjusting both located at the same side of the f machine so that either may be conveniently the rods 27 and 41. For example, when'it is desired that the shaft 5 alone shall be rotated lthe rod 41 is shifted so as to bring the clutch member 39 into clutch with thepin-v ion 37, and, on the-other'hand when it is desired that the shaft 4 shall be rotated the rod 27 is correspondinglyadjusted so as to bring the clutch member 21 into enga ement Of course, eit er-or both of the shafts 4 and 5 may be rendered active or inactive while the motor is running.

A sprocket gear 50 is also loosely mounted upon the shaft 15 and trained thereover .and

upon ashaft 52 1s a` over a sprocket 51 sprocket chain 53. rlfhe shaft 52 1s mounted loo' in a suitable bearing bracket 54 within the frame 1 and has fixed upon it a bevel pinion meshing with a similar pinion 55 fixed at the lower end of the shaft A clutch member 56 is slidably keyed upon the shaft 15 and 'the said clutch member.. and sprocketgear' 50 have coperating clutch portions 57 which coact to clutch the gear 50 with the shaft 15 when the clutch member 56 is shifted toward the said gear. An arm 58 corresponding to 'the arms 24' and 40 is associated with the f clutch member 56 to provide for shifting thereof and,this arm extends downwardy from a rod 59 which is located between the rods 27 and 41 and sldably mounted in the brackets or bearings 29 and 36 and an additional bearing 60. The rod 59 is provided 'at' its outer end with a hand grip 61 which preferably extends downwardly,

in a direction diderent from the direction in which the hand grips 35 and@ orinanyn extend. By reason of this arrangement of the hand grips confusion is avoided when the rods 27, 41 and 59 are to be adjusted for the operator is aware ofthe fact that the grips 49 and 32 for controlling the agitator shafts for the two tubs extend in one direc? tion while the hand grip for controlling the wringer mechanism extends inthe opposite direction. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In mechanism of the class described, a driven shaft, a plurality of clutch members on said shaft, rods extending parallel to the shaft and slidably mounted side by side, and arms extending from the rods and each engaging one of the clutch members, the said rods being provided with handle portions located in relatively close proximity to each other, the handle portions being turned at angles to their respective rods and one handle portion extending in an opposite direction to another.

2. In mechanism of the class described, a driven shaft, a plurality of clutch members upon the shaft, rods having operative congaging the said rods whereby to frictionally hold the same in adjusted position.

3. ln mechanism of the class described, a driven shaft, a plurality of clutch members upon the shaft, rods having operative connection with the respective clutch members and independently shiftable to independently shift lthe clutch members, a bearing for the rods having openings through which the rods are slidably fitted, a plate disposed to extend transversely of the rods and with one side frictionally engaging the rods, and means yieldably holding the plate in such engagement.

4. In mechanism of the class described, a driven shaft, a plurality of clutch members mounted thereon and each arranged to lock a gear thereto, a plurality of rods mounted parallel to the shaft and to each other, arms extending from the respective 'rods and engagmg the respective clutch members, the f said rods being arranged side by side, handle members extending angularly in a common direction from the outer of said rods, and a handle member extending angularly in the opposite direction from a rod intermediate said outer rods, lthe said handle members being located in relatively close proximity to each other.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

Jona Nansen. [es] 

